Tag: Spain

It’s no surprise that these are turbulent times we are living in, but they are particularly so today. While a general strike and public protests sweep southern Europe in response to neoliberal “austerity” in this time of economic crisis, Israel has launched a fresh attack on the Gaza strip, killing and injuring civilians, a woman has died in Ireland after being denied an abortion due to religious reasons, and last month a teenage girl activist in Pakistan was shot in the head as a response to her campaigning for girls’ education.

We commend those who are taking collective action to protest being forced into more dire economic conditions due to austerity, taking on both the police and the state in hopes of ensuring a better future. We stand in solidarity with the Palestinians who are suffering yet another grave injustice at the hands of the IDF. We honor the deceased and keep the injured in our thoughts.

We are grateful for the survival of 14-year old Malala Yousafzai and support her courageous work to ensure girls in a misogynist society have access to education, and are overjoyed to hear of the passing of Pakistan’s Universal Education Bill, undoubtedly spurred by international attention on Malala. Yet at the same time, we mourn the loss of Savita Halappanavar, who died unnecessarily due to an archaic law and sexist medical and religious culture that refused her requests for a termination. Along with many other feminist activists, in her honor, we will continue to work for the rights of all women to authority over our own bodies and lives.

For more detailed coverage on these topics, see the below articles and video compiled from media that we consider as reputable as possible. Underneath the headlines you will find the hashtags to follow on Twitter for more info and breaking updates.

The recent #Occupy protests are now happening in over 1500 cities worldwide. It is encouraging to see a revolutionary movement on this global scale, and we are pleased to see the following coverage and critiques. We have collected and posted these excerpts; click on each title to see the full original article.

Getting it right about race is important for the Occupy movement everywhere, but especially here in Georgia, where there is nothing subtle about the relationship between race, corporations and the government. Georgia’s government was created by and for plantation farmers, the original 1 percent, running antebellum corporations. And that 1 percent has been using everything in its power, most notably the criminal justice system, to hold on to its centuries-old gains.

The Occupy effort claims to represent the 99% of the population who are not the richest people in the country (and apparently the root of all evil). But ask yourself this: what percentage of the 99% is deciding the trajectory of a movement that claims to represent nearly every human being in the entire country? Just because I’m not in the top 1%, and you’re not in the top 1%, does that automatically mean you and I are in the same boat? It mostdef does not.

When reporters ask us what we are “protesting,” it’s difficult to dignify the question with a response. We protest, we resist, but what we resist is not a single policy or institution…We at Liberty Plaza seek to dismantle this global system while building democratic institutions and structures of our own, not to make superficial demands for reform. For those of us who are here, we understand ourselves in terms completely different from what is conveyed by the term ‘protesters.’ Rather, words like ‘revolution,’ ‘movement,’ and ‘community’ are on our tongues.

If one spends any good amount of time at the occupation, it feels less like a protest and more like a rapidly emerging community, with its own internal geography, institutions, and cultures. An anthropologist would have so much to sink their teeth into by simply walking around, visiting the Comfort Station where occupiers distribute blankets, sleeping bags, sweatshirts, and socks to occupiers, or by going to the meetings of working groups that handle everything from sanitation to food, media production to direct action. This is not a mere protest. This is a community.

The following manifesto was produced over four months through consultation among groups, activists and people’s assemblies in countries such as Britain, Egypt, Tunisia, Germany, Spain, the US, Palestine, Israel, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, India and Australia. We got comments, suggestions, support, and wrote and rewrote it again and again. The text has been supported by Canadian-based Naomi Klein, Indian-based Vandana Shiva, the US-based Michael Hardt and Noam Chomsky, as well as Uruguayan Eduardo Galeano.

“We are united for global change and united for global democracy: global governance of the people, by the people.”

"We are the 99%" has become the movement's slogan

The Library at Occupy Wall St in Liberty Park, NYC

In front of St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFPOccupy StockholmOccupy Wall St. Sisterly solidarity to the women who made these men feminists.